


The Secret Life of Darcy Lewis

by Rainne



Series: Thank-You Fics [4]
Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-17
Updated: 2015-06-17
Packaged: 2018-04-04 19:45:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4150476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainne/pseuds/Rainne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everybody needs a little time out of their regular reality once in awhile.<br/>(Inspired by <i>The Secret Life of Walter Mitty</i> by James Thurber.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Secret Life of Darcy Lewis

**Author's Note:**

  * For [youmakemefeelsafeagain](https://archiveofourown.org/users/youmakemefeelsafeagain/gifts).



> This fic is part of my Thank-You Fics, so called because they have been written as thank-you gifts to people who have donated to my mother's cancer fund, which is helping to pay for my mother's chemotherapy treatments and eventual surgeries.
> 
> If you would like to know more about my writing and my gift fics and how to get a Thank-You Fic of your own, please visit [this Tumblr post](http://rainnecassidy.tumblr.com/post/118466323344/please-help). Thanks.

"All right. Everyone knows the plan. Hawkeye, Bucky, you're up high. Thor, you're in the sky with Iron Man. Widow, Stinger, you're with me."

Everyone nods their agreement and Captain America hoists his shield on his arm. "Okay," he says. "Today's the day we finish off HYDRA for good, people. I want everybody on their top form! They shoot at you, you shoot back. Take prisoners if you can, but it's more important for us to walk away from this. Got it?"

There are murmurs of agreement all around.  "All right, then," Cap says. "Let's move out!"

Fighting next to Captain America is like a dream come true; it's what she's been training for, all these years, honing her mutant ability and learning to direct it, to control its power.  He goes first into the fray, of course, because he always does, but the Black Widow is on his left side, and Stinger is on his right, dressed in black battle armor with little yellow lightning bolt accents in appropriate places.  Natasha Romanoff goes into battle with her guns and her feet and her fists (and of course her Widow's Bite), but Darcy Lewis goes into battle with the power of electricity at her very beck and call, fifty thousand volts per shot with an amperage, as measured by Tony Stark over several days of carefully controlled testing, of between .01 and .10 - the difference, as Stark put it, between a light stun and a deep fry.

Today she has her phasers set on "knock unconscious," and that's exactly what she does, over and over: she knocks agent after agent unconscious, making sure to hit all the ones who look like they might have poison teeth, because those are the ones that are important.

"Darcy!"

The shout brings her out of the haze of battle and back to herself, and she blinks up at Jane, who's standing over her desk in the lab. "Jesus, were you asleep with your eyes open?" Jane asks.

Darcy flushes. "Maybe," she hedges.

Jane shakes her head. "Go get some rest, Darcy; you look like hell."

Darcy nods, sighs, and gathers her things.  She trudges down the hall toward the elevator.  The door slides open, she steps in, she turns, and she says "Eighty-five, please, JARVIS."

"Of course, Miss Lewis," the AI responds smoothly, and the turbolift doors slide shut. She leans against the wall. It's been a long day down in Engineering, with Commander LaForge laid up with the Romulan Flu, and keeping the ship together took a lot out of her today. 

Just as her eyes are about to flutter shut, there's the sound of an explosion from somewhere down below her, and the ship shudders briefly before the inertial dampers kick in.  "What the hell? Computer, report!" she demands, and the voice of the _Enterprise_ 's computer replies,  "We are under attack.  There is a leak in the antimatter containment unit."

"Shit!" she swears. "Get me back down to Engineering, right away!"

There's only a moment of inertia as the turbolift changes directions, and then she's speeding back toward Engineering as fast as the ship can get her there.

The turbolift doors slide open, and JARVIS says, "Floor eighty-five, Miss Lewis," and Darcy sighs.

"Thanks, JARVIS," she says.

She wanders into her little apartment, dropping her stuff on the couch, and trudges into the kitchen.  A growling sound from the refrigerator gets her attention and she stands there staring at it for a long moment before she walks over and carefully, nervously opens it.  A brilliant yellow light emanates from within the fridge as she pulls the door open, and when she stares inside, she does not see her leftover Pad Thai or her half-gallon of nearly-expired milk; instead, she sees a massive, cloudy hellscape with a huge glowy blue edifice deep in its center.  Standing inside the blue temple-like building is - is -

The dragon's head rears up, vomiting fire as it bellows " _ZUUL_!"  Darcy screams and slams the refrigerator door shut.

A moment later, when she opens the refrigerator again, she pulls out the half-gallon of nearly expired milk and the chocolate syrup.  Tonight is definitely a chocolate milk kind of night.

She sits down on the couch with a bowl of cereal, putting her chocolate milk to the side, and she watches an episode of _Adventure Time_ while she crunches her way through her Lucky Charms.  When the bowl is empty, she sets it aside on the coffee table, and she briefly contemplates the spoon in her hand.

"Do not try and bend the spoon," a small voice says beside her. She looks up at the little bald boy in the monk's robes as he continues, "It's impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth." She looks from the boy to the spoon and back again.  "What truth?"

"There is no spoon," the boy replies. 

"There is no spoon?" Darcy asks.

The boy nods earnestly.  "Then you'll see that it is not the spoon that bends. It is only yourself."

Darcy stares at the spoon, considering the boy's words, and tries to make herself believe that there is in fact no spoon.  She thinks she almost has it - she can feel the molecules vibrating - the bowl of the spoon is just starting to bend off to the side - when there's a rhythmic rapping at the door, and Darcy jumps, dropping the un-bent spoon onto the couch cushions.  Grumbling, she retrieves it and drops it into the cereal bowl on her way to the door.  When she opens it, Bucky Barnes is standing there.  "Let me in," he says.

She raises an eyebrow.  "Come in," she says, and he pushes past her, pushing the door shut.

"You gotta help me."  He holds up a cell phone.  "I lifted this off Stark.  He's asleep at his desk down in the lab.  I've got maybe half an hour to do something deeply fucked up to it and get it back to him before he wakes up.

"You've come to the right place," Darcy replies, lunging for her laptop computer.  She plugs the phone in and sets it down on the table, then begins to type like her life depends on it.  A synthesized voice emerges from her computer's speakers.  " _Shall we play a game?_ "


End file.
